Steelers: Breakout season for Bud Dupree?
By Jack Tolman
The Pittsburgh Steelers invested three first round picks in 2013, 2014, and 2015 on improving the linebacking core of the team. Could the most recent one, Alvin “Bud” Dupree, have a breakout year in his sophomore season?
Bud Dupree was one of the most electrifying athletes coming out of the 2015 NFL Draft. From the University of Kentucky, Dupree led the SEC in career sacks, and played well enough to become the Steelers’ first round selection.
With his selection, the Steelers had drafted three straight linebackers. The first of which was Jarvis Jones, still one of the most disappointing and underwhelming players on the Pittsburgh defense. The year after, the Steelers went after middle linebacker, Ryan Shazier, who has started to blossom into a potential star player.
With James Harrison nearing retirement, and Jarvis Jones’ 5th year option being declined, it’s as important as ever that Bud Dupree becomes the player the Steelers drafted him to be.
In the beginning of last year’s season, as early as opening night at Gillette Stadium, Bud Dupree started to show that he is capable of playing in the NFL. In both his first two games, he acquired a sack. In the first eight games of the season, Bud Dupree was up to 4 sacks, a reasonable number, especially for a rookie only half way through his first year.
Then, the rookie wall came, and Dupree hit it hard. What is the rookie wall? The rookie wall is the result of a rookie adjusting to the rigor and longevity of an NFL season. They are not accustomed to 17-week seasons, and longer if they make the playoffs. It’s all about adapting to the NFL, and Bud Dupree admit that he was ill prepared for what he faced as the season progressed, and it showed.
Dupree did not register a single sack in his final eight games, as well as the playoff games after. That doesn’t mean that he necessarily played awfully, but he was unable to produce at the level he flashed at the beginning of the year.
The rookie season is the hardest for most players. It’s not fair to try and gauge the abilities of a player based on a single year, and sometimes it’s those small glimmers of potential that should be focused on rather than the consistent play; at least for year one.
Year two is different. Dupree has to prove that he can be a difference maker in Pittsburgh. He has all the athletic ability to do so, and if he can play like he did in the first eight weeks of last year’s season for an entire year, he has potential to be a great player.
If Bud Dupree puts in the work, and overcomes the longevity of an NFL season to become a more consistent player, he can help lead the youth revolution that is taking place in Pittsburgh, and he can be a truly special player for Pittsburgh.